VEF's AI Story Finally Shows Up in the Numbers
The second-quarter 2026 report from VEF AB (publ) is the first time the company's long-touted AI thesis has translated into hard, portfolio-level numbers. NAV was flat at $406M, down 0.6% in dollars, but the story is under the hood: Creditas, the largest holding, is producing efficiency gains that feel like a step-change.
the employee count is falling. They were 4,000, remember, over 18 months ago. They are below 1,800 today.
David Nangle attributes this to AI tools now being embedded across the business — from customer acquisition to collections. "A lot of this is AI driven," he said, and the company is finally amplifying the theme after "12, 18, 24 months" of working with tools. The result is not just a lower headcount but a lower customer acquisition cost: “Customer acquisition fell below 10% for the incremental loan for the first time ever in Q1 and falling.” — David Nangle, CEO · 2026-07-15 This is the kind of operational leverage that should compound as the loan book grows.
The flat NAV is explained by Alexis Koumoudos: the underlying portfolio performance added $5 million, while multiple compression took off $8 million. Notably, “70% of our NAV is anchored by third-party transactions closed within the last seven months.” — Alexis Koumoudos, CIO and Partner · 2026-07-15 This means the valuation marks are fresh and reliable, and the quarter's dip is largely a function of LATAM comps, not company fundamentals.
Beyond Creditas, David highlights Abhi, a seed investment in Pakistan that has scaled to a $200M loan book and $260M in deposits. “It can become one of those ones that are breaking out from the general part of the portfolio into the top three.” — David Nangle, CEO · 2026-07-15 The company's ability to find and nurture such winners — with compounding growth — is central to the long-term value story.
Capital allocation remains a disciplined priority. The company has $24.7M of debt due by year-end and a cash position of ~$22M. David reiterated the plan to pay down debt and then buy back shares, noting the deep discount to NAV. This is a consistent message: in the January 2026 call, he said “we're very clear that we need to manage our capital position given what we need to outlay at least on paper from a debt point of view by year-end.” — David Nangle, CEO · 2026-01-21 The company is also preparing to add new board members with EM expertise, but the core focus is on delivering exits.
The broader market is watching AI's impact on financials, and VEF is now showing concrete evidence that its largest holding is ahead of the curve. In the October 2025 call, David noted that Konfio was "one of the more impressive companies in our portfolio with use and impact already of AI tools." Now Creditas is taking that to scale. For shareholders, this is a genuine change: the AI theme is no longer a promise but a driver of the company's compounding growth and ultimately NAV accretion.